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Stories about students and the initiatives designed to improve performance. Are the many education reforms Florida has adopted having an impact?

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September 25, 2012

New York Law Firm Investigating K12

A New York City law firm says they are investigating K12, Inc. to see if the nation’s largest online education provider mislead investors. The law firm, Faruqi and Faruqi, cites a StateImpact Florida/Florida Center for Investigative Reporting report about Florida investigating the company for possible using improperly certified teachers. According to emails and other documents, […]

Explaining Florida’s Shift To Digital Textbooks

Kindles or other electronic devices will soon replace textbooks in classrooms. New requirements mean Florida students will use digital textbooks by 2015. Some districts have already started making the change. In Pasco County, where there’s a textbook shortage, the district opted to spend money on digital copies of books this school year. The problem is […]

September 24, 2012

Students Needed For The Florida Astronaut Challenge

Want to prove you have the right stuff? High school students have until this Friday to apply for the Florida Astronaut Challenge. The chosen teams will show off their Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Engineering (STEM) skills through experiments and challenges. Students will use a Mobile NASA Space Shuttle Flight simulator to bring their experiments to […]

September 21, 2012

Now Playing: This American Life On “Soft Skill” Education

StateImpact Florida hit the road for Orlando this week, and so we packed a few podcasts for the trip. We highly recommend a fascinating piece by This American Life that takes a look at the growing body of research about “non-cognitive skills,” such as resilience, tenacity and self-control. Research shows that the stress from living […]

September 18, 2012

Read The Virginia Lawsuit Accusing K12 Of Misleading Investors

Florida is investigating K12, the nation’s online educator, but we could learn more from a federal lawsuit filed in the company’s home state of Virginia. The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System filed the lawsuit, which alleges the company misled investors in what K12 did and did not report about how it makes money. A judge must […]

September 17, 2012

Don’t Confuse The Florida Virtual Academy And The Florida Virtual School

The news Florida is investigating K12, Inc, the nation’s largest online educator, has created confusion about Florida’s similarly named online schools. The Florida Virtual Academy are schools managed by the for-profit K12, Inc. K12 provides services for 43 Florida school districts. In addition, non-profit groups in many counties have applied to open independent online charter […]

September 16, 2012

In K12 Courses, 275 Students to a Single Teacher

Student-teacher ratios at K12, the nation’s largest online educator, are nearly twice as high as Florida’s state-run virtual school, according to internal company documents obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and StateImpact Florida. A high school teacher working for K12 may have as many as 275 students, compared to Florida Virtual School, which […]

September 14, 2012

Feedback Loop: In Defense of K12

Readers came to the defense of K12 after our series of stories this week looking at the nation’s largest online educator. The Florida Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the company after Seminole County schools turned over evidence that the company was using improperly certified teachers and asking teachers to sign off […]

3 Florida Charter Schools Voluntarily Close 20 Days Into the School Year

Today marks 20 days into the school year in Broward County. For some students today will be the last day on their campus and with the teachers they started the year with. Three Broward charter schools have voted to close their doors: Touchdowns4life Charter, a middle school in Tamarac, Fla. Eagle Charter Academy, a 6-12 […]

Q&A With FSU Film School Dean About the Digital Domain Bankruptcy

Florida State University’s film school welcomed more than two dozen students to its new digital media program in West Palm Beach this month. The new Bachelor of Fine Arts program costs $28,000-a-year. Students join the program after spending their freshman year in Tallahassee. They are co-enrolled at FSU and the Digital Domain Institute, where animation […]

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